How can I stay consistent with my training through this COVID-19 pandemic?
One of the key things that any powerlifting coach will tell you is how important being consistent with your training is. Why is it so important? That is because if you are not consistent with your training you are going to lose muscle and as I’m sure you all know; muscle is pretty hard to put on. That being said, I’m pretty sure that the one thing that no powerlifting coach had ever considered when warning athletes not to lose consistency in their training was the federal government making gyms illegal because of a pandemic.
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But Covid-19 has come and we need to stay in control of our individual training, for our own mental health and for our future WILKS scores. So, what are we going to do about it?
You are probably in one of two positions right now. You either have a home gym and you are training, but you don’t have perfect equipment and all the accessories equipment that you are used to is not there. You might have imperfect safety racks etc or you’re in the position where you have almost no equipment at all. I’m not going to lie to you but you are probably going to lose some muscle mass, but having said that, there may just be a silver lining. If you are a powerlifter you probably have an injury history or you struggle with mobility. This is the perfect time to focus on your mobility and strengthening your weaker muscle groups. It is easy to strengthen small muscle groups with nothing more than a glute band and build up your core. You can build your glutes, develop strength surrounding your sacroilliac joint (SIJ) in your lower back, improve hamstring and ankle mobility. You can build that latissimus dorsi strength; along with building strength around the muscles that help to rotate the glenhumeral joint in the shoulder, these being the posterior deltoid, infraspintus and teres minor. As well you can build strength other muscles, such as the coracobrachialis, which is used with shoulder flexion, these muscles are so important but often get neglected when we are busy focusing on our primary lifts. Building strength and stability in these smaller muscle groups can help you mitigate your risk of injury once you get back into the gym.
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What working on these smaller muscle groups and core strength and, what we will call powerlifter mobility, will mean for you is that when you are squatting you may find it easier to hit depth and keep your core engaged. If you keep your core engaged you are less likely to fall forward in your squat, you will find it easier to get into position and to create tension in your squat by having that improved shoulder mobility. That improved ability to protract your scapula will allow you to produce tension in your deadlift and hold form when you are benching and improve your ability to hold position through improved ankle mobility.
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The Covid-19 crisis is here, but from a powerlifting point of view, we must make the best of the hand we are dealt, and take advantage of it to rehabilitate any injuries or minor muscle weakness by focusing on strengthening some of those smaller muscle groups. And for this you don’t need much equipment, just a band.
My next article will be how to get back into the gym and training after having all this time away from the gym. I will discuss how to avoid injury by looking at some of the common mistakes that deconditioned lifters make when going back into high load strength training such as powerlifting, strongman and weightlifting.
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Infinite Strength & Rehabilitation has put together a complimentary generic powerlifters band mobility program available if you email me. As the program is generic it is not specific to individuals. If you would like some one-one guidance, feel free to Message Me or email me.
Stay Safe, Stay Strong & Become Mobile.